Store Services

About Us: Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore opened for business on March 2, 1974. Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore opened for business in a nearby location on December 1, 1980. Both stores moved to our current shared location in September, 1984. Customers from all over the world tell us that we have the best selection of new and used science fiction, fantasy, and mystery books anywhere on the planet. We are located at 2864 Chicago Avenue, slightly north of the intersection of Lake Street and Chicago Avenue, and 1.5 miles south of downtown Minneapolis, MN. (Click here for map of our location on our Facebook page)

Parking: Metered parking (25 cents for 20 minutes) is available in front of the store. Meters are enforced 8am-6pm Monday through Saturday (except for federal holidays). Note the number on the pole you park by, and pay at the box located between the dental office driveway and Popeyes driveway. The box accepts quarters, dollar coins, and credit cards, and prints a receipt that shows the expiration time. Meter parking for vehicles with Disability License Plates or a Disability Certificate is free. (Rates and hours shown are subject to change without notice - the meters are run by the city, not by us.) Free parking is also available next door in the dental office lot after 5pm Monday through Thursday, and all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Public Transit: We are 1/2 block from the Midtown Transit Station, bus routes 5, 21, 53. Route 5 goes through downtown Minneapolis; Route 21 connects with the Blue Line (Hiawatha) light rail (which runs between downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America); Route 53 is a limited-stop rush hour version of Route 21. (Bus schedule and route information on the Metro Transit website)

Discount Program: Our discount program costs $4.00 and gives you a 10% discount for 90 days from the date of purchase, good on new and used merchandise at Uncle Hugo's and Uncle Edgar's. The discount applies to in-store purchases only - it cannot be used for books that are being shipped. Also, the discount does not apply to discount cards, gift certificates, or items that are already marked 40% off.

Mailing List: We do not sell our mailing list to anybody. We use it for announcing our quarterly newsletter. We also send out occasional short email announcements of interest to either mystery readers or science fiction readers--such as an author appearance scheduled on such short notice that it didn't get into the newsletter. (We once got 24-hour notice of a signing by David Brin, and we've sometimes received 2-week notices of other author appearances.) Click here for more details.

Quarterly Newsletter: Our free newsletter includes upcoming titles (with author and series information, price, and a brief plot synopsis), as well as news about store events, award nominees and winners, and the book business. You can pick up the 32-page (edited down) printed version at the store, or ask to be added to the mailing list. The newsletter is also available in PDF format on our website, including expanded versions with additional titles and plot synopses, and a large-print version. Click here for PDFs.

Want Lists: We accept want lists, either by mail or email. We'll let you know what we can provide and what the prices are. We don't have many rare titles, but we do have a huge selection of reading copies.

Used Books: We buy and sell used books: science fiction, fantasy, paranormal romance, and mystery fiction; sf, fantasy, and mystery media tie-ins; nonfiction relating to sf, fantasy, and mysteries; true crime; military and nautical historical fiction; and a smattering of other items.

Most of our used books are affordable reading copies rather than higher-priced collectibles. About 99% of our used paperbacks and magazines are priced at half the original cover price, with a minimum price of $3.00. The other 1% are in plastic bags and priced higher, most in the $4.00-$6.00 range. Used hardcovers have prices pencilled inside, starting at $4.00 for book club or ex-library editions, and going up from there.

Before we buy used books, we check each title to see if we need a copy. If you bring in a large batch of books, this can take a while, especially at Uncle Edgar's. If you have more than 2 or 3 bags of books to trade, it never hurts to call and find out when would be a convenient time to bring them in.

After we've determined which books we need, we calculate how much credit they are worth. You can use the credit immediately, put the credit on file for future use, convert the credit to cash (the cash value will be half of the credit value), or some combination of the three options. For example, if your books are worth $100 in credit, you could used $25 immediately, put $35 of credit on file for future use, and convert the remaining $40 credit into $20 cash.